On June 12, a dance recital was held in Brentwood for the defendant's daughter, Sydney. The entire Brown family went to the recital, as did some friends, Candace Garvey, for instance. The auditorium was crowded, and so not everyone could sit, you know, next to a family member, and so their party was, you know, there were people between them.

He sat behind the Browns for a few moments, but then got up, and he grabbed a chair and dragged it to a corner of the auditorium, turned that chair around and he sat in it. And he sat there facing Nicole and just stared at her. He just sat there staring at her. You'll hear testimony about this and the evidence will show that this was a menacing stare, a penetrating stare. It was an angry stare and it made everyone very uncomfortable.

When the recital was over, there was a little issue of whether or not the defendant was allowed to give Sydney some flowers--he gave her some flowers. But the Brown family had decided to go over to the Mezzaluna restaurant for dinner, and as they left, they made it clear to the defendant that he was not invited. And he wasn't invited. Of not inviting him it was a reaffirmation of what he'd already been told, and that was that he was no longer being treated as a part of the family. He was no longer the central centerpiece of every family outing. Nicole was getting on with her own life. And as the Brown family left they looked toward the defendant, and they saw him, and he was angry and he was depressed and they were concerned. And everyone wondered, "What is he up to now?"

Miss Clark will tell you exactly what the defendant was up to as the day proceeded on. But there's some things you should know about this evidence, and as you hear it.

This is not character assassination. This is not a tabloid prosecution. The evidence you will hear in this case will be evidence that this defendant is lying. His conduct, the things he did, the evidence of his relationship with one of the victims, and as you hear the evidence and as you hear Miss Clark, you'll see how it is that Ron Goldman happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. As you listen to the evidence you will see that his decision to kill finally was merely a final link in a progressive chain of controlling conduct. It was a chain that consisted of fear and intimidation and battery and emotional and mental abuse. And economic abuse and control and stalking.

And you'll see that there was a common scheme, a common plan in all of this. And that was to control. To control her. It was all designed just to control her. And in controlling her, it was depriving the man, depriving O.J. Simpson, who is the defendant, who committed that final, ultimate act of control. She left him. She was no longer in his control. He was obsessed with her. He could not stand to lose her and so he murdered her. And as you hear the evidence in this case, it will become clear that, in his mind, she belonged to him and if he couldn't have her, then nobody could.

Thank you.

*

Excerpts from Deputy Dist. Atty. Marcia Clark, who followed Christopher Darden in the prosecution's opening statement:

You've now heard the why . . . . Why would Orenthal James Simpson, a man who seemingly had it all, commit such heinous crimes, throw it all away. The one simple truth about the evidence described to you by Mr. Darden is that it shows that Mr. Simpson is a man--not a stereotype but flesh and blood who can do both good and evil.

Being wealthy, being famous cannot change one simple truth: He's a person and people have good sides and bad sides. Whether you see both sides or not, both sides are always there.

Now we will show you the other side of the smiling face you saw in the Hertz commercial, the one you never saw on camera, the one none of us ever wanted to see. And that was the side that went from Rockingham at his estate to Nicole's home at 875 S. Bundy on the night of June the 12th, 1994.

Now on that night, many events were happening at the same time and in order to give you a true picture, the most clear and accurate picture of what really happened, how the events occurred, I'm going to go back and forth between the parties and between the locations. . . .

With respect to the timing, the evidence will show that on the night of June 12, 1994, the defendant had an hour and 10 minutes of time in which his whereabouts are unaccounted for. And we will show that it was during that hour and 10 minutes that the murders were committed.